Karel De Gucht, the European trade commissioner, has a penchant for saying what he’s really thinking. As Belgian foreign minister, he ruffled feathers across the globe. He was notoriously tough on Belgium’s former colony, the Congo, criticizing corruption and emphasizing that Belgium’s aid contributions gave it “the moral authority to comment on issues affecting the country.” Congo subsequently banned Mr. De Gucht from visiting.

On Thursday, with the Middle East peace process in the news, Mr. De Gucht picked yet another fight. Jews, he told Belgian radio, have a “belief” that they are “always right.” He described his frustration at debating the Middle East because “it is not easy even with a moderate Jew to have a conversation.”

He continued: “Don’t underestimate the power of the Jewish lobby in the capital. That is best organized lobby in the states. And they have an influence on politicians, Republicans and Democrats.”

Advertisement

Dr. Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, lambasted the commissioner. “What sort of environment allows such remarks to be made openly by a senior politician?” he said. “This is part of a dangerous trend of incitement against Jews and Israel in Europe that needs to be stamped out immediately.”

European Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly, pressed repeatedly on whether the commission disavows Mr. De Gucht’s remarks, said only that the commission considers them “personal comments.”

We will update if Mr. De Gucht clarifies his remarks later on today.

UPDATE: Mr. De Gucht issued a statement on Friday afternoon. It said: “I gave an interview yesterday to the Flemish radio. I was also asked about the Middle East peace talks. I gave my personal point of view. I regret that the comments that I made have been interpreted in a sense that I did not intend. I did not mean in any possible way to cause offense or stigmatize the Jewish Community. I want to make clear that anti-Semitism has no place in today’s world and is fundamentally against our European values.”

Comments (5 of 396)

Everyone knows what he said was accurate. Why apologize? It's refreshing to have someone speak the truth, instead tiptoeing around the obvious.

5:46 am September 15, 2010

Nat wrote:

To have à conversation u need 2 people with à brain THE brain of THE jew cannot compensate for THE lack of de Gucht , people are right unless proven different ,
How very undiplomatic !

3:14 pm September 10, 2010

Death Valley Daniel wrote:

The Jewish people are both the chosen people and cursed by God. You see it in this blog but the concept is somewhat hard to grasp in all it's reality.

8:55 am September 9, 2010

White Vanguared wrote:

@self declared "anti-racist", you Americans are "linguistically deprived" because Americans IMAGINE that they speak English instead of barking American in Cowboycountry, the largest open-air lunatic asylum in the world !

About Real Time Brussels

The Wall Street Journal’s Brussels blog is produced by the Brussels bureau of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. The bureau has been headed since 2009 by Stephen Fidler, who was previously a correspondent and editor for the Financial Times and Reuters. Also posting regularly: Matthew Dalton, Viktoria Dendrinou, Tom Fairless, Naftali Bendavid, Laurence Norman, Gabriele Steinhauser and Valentina Pop.